Uber Blogger Steve Rubel Joins Edelman PR as Sr VP

Congratulations to uber blogger Steve Rubel who is joining Edelman PR as a Sr VP in charge of developing new Word of Mouth business and getting more Fortune 500 companies blogging.

Great career move for Rubel, who gets a much bigger playing field, and smart action for Edelman, who gets a highly respected blogger with a huge following.

Matthew Creamer, writing about the announcement in Ad Age, was somewhat skeptical, asking "Can he blog on blue chips?"
"It remains to be seen," he wrote, "however, how a big-agency environment will change MicroPersuasion. Edelman has a long list blue-chip clients that presumably wouldn't be happy seeing their marketing and PR faux pas dissected on the blog. Asked about this, Mr. Rubel, whose blogging day begins at roughly 4:30 a.m., laughed and said, "I'm not going to be calling out as many companies as I used to."

Will big companies get past the "aren't blogs just online diaries?" "lynch mobs?" or a waste of time? Stay tuned. And how long it will take for all the big PR firms to hire prominent bloggers? The Edelman announcement should be a real wake-up call to any PR firm -- and there are many -- that still thinks it can ignore blogs. You can bet more hiring announcements will soon follow.

Technorati Tags:
Edelman_PR, Steve_Rubel, Micropersuasion, Ad_Age, corporate_blogging, public_relations, blogging_trends

Technorati Tags:
Edelman_PR, Steve_Rubel, Micropersuasion, Ad_Age, corporate_blogging, public_relations, blogging_trends

The sheer gravity of citizen journalism vis a vie blogs and their comment thread constituents, should make the most forward-thinking public relations practices view blog comments, positive or negative, as insightful and valuable feedback to evolve the client's communications policy in customer response, awknowledgement and action.

Welcome to the new customer loyalty paradigm.

Indeed, blogs are reaking havoc on "packaged communications", but ultimately, public affairs policy shaped by real acknowledgement and action will win, and keep, customers.